Scientists discover ‘fish lizard’ fossil in India

Ahmedabad : Indian scientists said yesterday they had identified a prehistoric marine reptile fossil discovered in a western desert region known as the subcontinent’s Jurassic Park.

The 150-million-year-old marine reptile known as “ichthyosaur” is the first of its kind found in India and was unearthed by a team of local and German geologists.

The 5.5-metre (18 feet) specimen was uncovered in the Kutch desert in Gujarat in January 2016, but scientists took more than a year to identify the rare fossil.

The ichthyosaur — a combination of two Greek words meaning fish and lizard — existed during the Mesozoic Era upwards of 250 million years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

“The fossil was studied for over a year and it turned out to be of ichthyosaur, a kind of marine reptile which could have resembled the present day dolphins,” said M G Thakkar, one of the authors of the study.